Archive for October, 2009

A lot has been said of the freelancer’s business today. More than ever given these tough economic times the freelancer must be creative in marketing himself and his skills. Problem is there seems to be a plethora of low or non-paying jobs out there. There’s no shortage of work if you want to work for free,  And sometimes I do exactly that.

Working for free is completely different from working for low-pay. Working at less or much less than your customary rate cheapens your services and diminishes your stature in the eyes of your client. It opens yourself to a wide range of abuses, long hours and lack of respect. But working for free — ah, that’s a horse of a different color. Now YOU hold all the marbles – not your employer. Folks, this is psychological warfare – and you’d be very wise to engage in it! You’re doing your client a colossal favor, you’ve demonstrated your willingness to be flexible during the recession, and you’ve (hopefully) proven yourself indispensable to your client.

There you go. Think of it as “career development” or “targeted promotion” on your part. If you choose your employer carefully, the days you work for free can be the most lucrative days of your career.

After months of work the second edition of Video Shooter is now a reality. With photos from recent projects in India and Africa and updated references to the latest cameras and tapeless workflows, Video Shooter 2 will provide if nothing else hours of entertaining reading. I tried to make my lessons and insights fun, as video storytelling and life in general should be. It’s not a technical book although it can be technical at times. It’s really a book about framing the world and communicating with a camera. Ultimately it’s about  telling compelling stories – which is all your audience cares about anyway.

In a way you could say I’m an anti-nerd nerd. I despise technical discussions in general, although I understand and can fully appreciate the video artist with technical proficiency and mastery of his tools. That’s one of the major lessons in Video Shooter: from a technical perspective the video storyteller only needs to know what he needs to know. Anything beyond what the audience requires to experience a good story is pure geekiness.